Body

Overall survival (OS) may be a reasonable primary endpoint when the median survival postprogession (SSP) is less than 6 months, but it is too high a hurdle when SPP is longer than 12 months, according to a new study published online November 9 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

This study was undertaken to examine whether progression-free survival (PFS) or OS is the most appropriate endpoint in clinical trials of metastatic cancer, and to determine if it is reasonable to expect that treatment benefit in PFS carries over to OS.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing with cytology triage is more sensitive than conventional cytology screening for detecting cervical lesions, according to a new study published online November 9 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Cytology triage in HPV-positive women can improve specificity.

HPV DNA testing has shown higher sensitivity than conventional cytology screening for detecting cervical lesions, but it is uncertain whether the higher sensitivity is dependent on the age of the woman being screened.

After one year, a low-calorie, low-fat diet appears more beneficial to dieters' mood than a low-carbohydrate plan with the same number of calories, according to a report in the November 9 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

One in four emergency department patients in 2006 waited longer to be evaluated by a clinician than recommended at triage, an increase from one in five in 1997, according to a report in the November 9 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Cumulative exposure to five common infection-causing pathogens may be associated with an increased risk of stroke, according to a report posted online today that will appear in the January 2010 print issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Laser eye surgery to correct vision problems does not appear to be associated with lasting changes to cells lining the inside of the cornea at nine years after the procedure, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

ST. PAUL, Minn. –Teenage women who are obese may be more than twice as likely to develop multiple sclerosis (MS) as adults compared to female teens who are not obese, according to a study published in the November 10, 2009, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Three Singapore biomedical institutions have launched a major, long-term study of pregnant mothers and their fetuses as well as infant children to determine just how profoundly environmental factors early in life influence the onset of diseases such as obesity and diabetes in later years.

Over the last 20 years, the sequencing of the human genome, along with related organisms, has represented one of the largest scientific endeavors in the history of mankind. The information collected from genome sequencing will provide the raw data for the field of bioinformatics, where computer science and biology meet. Since the publication of the first full genome sequence in the mid-1990s, scientists have been working to identify the genomic location of all the gene products involved in the complex biological processes in a single organism.

New York, Nov. 9, 2009 – Although the chances of surviving advanced melanoma aren't very good with current therapies, some patients can live for years with cancer that has spread beyond the skin to other organs. Now it may be possible to identify which patients are more likely to survive by analyzing the activity of hundreds of genes involved in the immune response and gene proliferation, according to researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – In an advance that could one day enable surgeons to reconstruct and restore function to damaged or diseased penile tissue in humans, researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center's Institute for Regenerative Medicine have used tissue engineering techniques to completely replace penile erectile tissue in animals.

MADISON — Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health have eliminated cervical cancer in mice with two FDA-approved drugs currently used to treat breast cancer and osteoporosis.

Published in this week's (Nov. 9) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the findings offer hope for the 500,000 women around the world who are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year. Half of them will not survive.

CINCINNATI – Researchers have transplanted genetically modified hematopoietic stem cells into mice so that their developing red blood cells produce a critical lysosomal enzyme –preventing or reducing organ and central nervous system damage from the often-fatal genetic disorder Hurler's syndrome.

The research team from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center reports its preclinical laboratory results this week in the early edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

They may only be 1.5mm in size, but the tiny wasps that pollinate fig trees can travel over 160km in less than 48 hours, according to research from scientists at the University of Leeds. The fig wasps are transporting pollen ten times further than previously recorded for any insect.

The fig wasps travel these distances in search of trees to lay their eggs, which offers hope that trees pollinated by similar creatures have a good chance of surviving if they become isolated through deforestation.

DURHAM, N.C. – A very close and detailed study of how the most robust antibodies work to block the HIV virus as it seeks entry into healthy cells has revealed a new direction for researchers hoping to design an effective vaccine.

"Our study clearly showed that we've been overlooking a very important component of antibody function," says S. Munir Alam, Ph.D., an associate professor of medicine at Duke University Medical Center and lead author of the paper appearing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.